Getting Creamed

September 8, 1988|By Complied by Heather McPherson of the Sentinel Staff

THE DIFFERENCE between heavy cream and whipping cream is the amount of butterfat they contain. Whipping cream generally has about 32 percent butterfat while heavy cream tops that with 36 percent to 42 percent. While they are interchangeable, many cooks prefer the extra richness of heavy cream. Some supermarkets carry heavy cream in quarts or will special order it for you.

SPUDS AND CREAM

NOW YOU can eat potatoes in your ice cream and cut down on fat and sugar in the process. According to a recent article in Food Engineering magazine, a trade publication, a new ice cream uses potato flakes instead of sugar and some of the milkfat. Called Al & Reed's All Natural Ice Cream, it was invented by Alan Reed, general manager of Reed's Dairy in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It took Reed a year to develop a smooth, creamy ice cream using potatoes. It has 40 percent fewer calories than a dairy's regular ice cream. The most difficult flavor to develop was vanilla -- ''it kept tasting like 'potilla,' '' the article quoted Reed as saying. Other flavors include chocolate, strawberry, apple pie, Southern black cherry, boysenberry, chocolate peanut butter and chocolate almond. The ice cream has been licensed to several dairies and should be available soon in retail stores. An Al & Reed Ice Cream Shop franchise has begun in the Southeast.

MORE SWEETS

A NEW artificial sweetener soon will be on the market to give NutraSweet's Equal competition. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in July, the new sweetener, Sunette, will be used in powdered beverage mixes, gelatins, puddings, chewing gums and as a table-top sugar substitute. Made by a West German firm, Hoechst Celanese, Sunette is about 200 times sweeter than sugar and is used in many European countries. But Sunette already is under attack as a possible health risk, as was NutraSweet. Studies on rats fed Sunette so far have shown mixed results regarding the development of cancerous tumors.

PEPIN'S PANS

CHEF AND cookbook author Jacques Pepin has endorsed and loaned his name to a new line of pricey copper cookware. The Jacques Pepin Signature Series by Bourgeat is a three-piece set of heavy-duty copper pans and lids made in France according to Pepin's specifications. The pans have a thicker gauge copper (2.5 millimeters) than any other copperware, according to the manufacturer. Look for the pans soon in gourmet cookware shops. The set will retail for about $500. Individual pieces start at $100.

LABEL LITERATE

HERE ARE some pointers from the American Heart Association on reading product labels:

Read the nutritional information on the back of the package. Don't rely on ambiguous advertising.

Contents are listed by decreasing weight in proportion to the total product weight. In other words, the more of an ingredient a product has the sooner it is listed. A product that lists ''gravy, beef, carrots, salt, spices'' contains more gravy than anything else.

Nutritional information is listed per serving. Calorie counts will seem low if the number of servings is artificially increased. Labels also indicate serving size. Calories are listed first, followed by the amounts (in grams) of protein, carbohydrate and fat. Protein is also as a percentage of the U.S. recommended daily allowance (RDA).

THE HEAT IS ON

WHEN IT'S hot, it's hot -- or maybe it's not hot enough. For

best cooking results when making candy, use a thermometer to check food temperatures.

Both temperature and degree of doneness (soft ball, hard crack, etc.) are marked on a candy thermometer. Some include deep-frying markings as well.

Test your candy thermometer for accuracy before each use by submerging the tip in boiling water. If the thermometer registers above or below 212 F, add or subtract the same number of degrees from the recipe temperature and cook to that temperature. For example, if the thermometer reads 214 F, cook the candy 2 F higher than the recipe states. If it reads 209 F, cook candy to a temperature 3 F lower than your recipe requires.

AN APPLE A DAY

SOME APPLE trivia to prepare for the autumn months: Apples are grown in every continental U.S. state, and commercially in 35 states. The top five apple-producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia. About 45 percent of the crop is processed into applesauce, juice, pie slices, apple butter, dried fruit, baby food, jellies -- and even as candy and chips.